Parents teach Body Image Stereotypes to their Toddlers

A study co-authored by Psychology Professor, Thomas Joiner, with graduate student Jill Holm-Denoma and post-doctoral student Ainhoa Otamendi reported in the International Journal of Eating Disorders was conducted with the help of scientists at the Oregon Research Institute and Wesleyan University.

The researchers interviewed parents by questionnaire about how they perceived their child’s body shape and eating habits.  Depending on the gender of the child, parents reported certain types of eating behaviors.  The parents worried that their 3 year old sons were underweight and believed that their daughters ate enough food and their sons did not.  What was interesting is the body mass index of the boys were almost the same.